Active safety & Euro NCAP: Improved safety – many systems, one goal

The desire to protect vehicle passengers and other road users as effectively as possible has driven tremendous development in recent years, particularly in the field of safety systems. This is amplified by legislation and other recognized assessment criteria, such as the tests by Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme).

Virtual test driving enables you to evaluate how your systems will act in certain test scenarios, and to foresee which criteria your functions will satisfy, very early on in the development process. As a result, you can improve existing functions on an ongoing basis and develop new safety systems efficiently, bringing you ever closer to the vision of accident-free driving.

When it comes to developing your safety systems in a scenario-based way, countless options are available in the virtual world that correspond to real-world tests. You can make use of a virtual environment complete with all the required elements, such as preceding vehicles and oncoming traffic, pedestrians and cyclists, road boundaries, road markings and much more.

Test your systems at every stage from the requirements phase on, from MIL/SIL through HIL to VIL. Re-use scenarios from virtual test driving as often as you like to develop safety functions that either stand in isolation or are networked with other systems. Perform testing that is both customized and reproducible – test in the virtual world!

References

Success_Story_PSA_Vehicle-in-the-Loop_CM_EN

0.25 MB / PDF/ 2017 / IPG Automotive/ English

Emergency brake assist

Reproducible, legal and Euro NCAP-compliant

Regardless of the autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system you need to test – test it directly in the virtual world! With the help of virtual test driving, you can easily place your AEB systems in city, rural and highway scenarios and assess their reliability.You can also simulate a diverse range of scenarios (static and/or moving objects, varying speeds, etc.) in multiple real-time. Compared to real-world tests, only a fraction of the set-up work is needed to simulate the relevant test cases, and no dummies, vehicle replicas or other real road users are required. You can benefit from early testing to guarantee object recognition and the optimal functioning of your emergency brake assist.

A wide variety of weather conditions and factors such as misadjusted cameras can also easily be taken into account in virtual test driving. Virtual tests will ensure that you are fully prepared for the mandatory introduction of AEBS (advanced emergency braking systems) for trucks in November 2018, and for the new Euro NCAP guidelines on emergency brake assist systems for cyclists also coming in 2018 – play it safe with us!

How virtual test driving can benefit your tests

Create an environment with a range of different options with just a few clicks of the mouse.

See a scenario from the perspective of various sensors: fuse sensor data already in the virtual world.

Substantial reductions in the number of traffic incidents are still needed to achieve accident-free driving: Collision avoidance systems can and should make a significant contribution to this. The use of comprehensive environment recognition is intended to prevent collisions early on by performing either hard braking or avoidance maneuvers aided by an active collision warning system.

These assistance functions are subject to continuous development to ensure that all the relevant environmental factors are involved in the system’s decisions. If a collision cannot be avoided, the driver is warned by an alarm and/or a visual signal in the head-up display. You can assess which form is most effective with virtual testing. We can assist you with all relevant issues, from the handover of control between the different systems or back to the driver right through to covering a number of scenarios with test automation.

Conduct virtual testing with the IPGDriver of our products CarMaker, TruckMaker and MotorcycleMaker or real-world testing with test participants on our System Experience Platform to assess when collision warnings should ideally be signaled. Design the human machine interface such that real drivers can achieve the best possible reaction times.

Maintain a perfect view of traffic at all times. Do you use several sensors in your system? Sensor data fusion will help to guarantee interplay of radar and lidar technology as well as cameras, e.g. via the ADTF interface of the CarMaker product family.

Despite the wide variety of conceivable test cases, you can optimize these driver assistance functions with the aid of automatable maneuver catalogs. We will be delighted to draw on our many years of expertise to help you configure these.

Lane keeping assist

Always keep on track thanks to virtual testing

The road positioning of a real vehicle within road markings is learnt by the driver – though in cases of doubt, intuition and experience also play a large role. Just because the road is covered with snow, road construction markings have not been fully removed, lines are barely visible at night, or markings abroad are different colors, this does not mean that traffic grinds to a halt.

Humans are able to compensate for such gaps in information, but how does this work with an assistance system? Lane keeping assist systems are only able to act based on the information that is available to them. However, camera images often lead to the wrong conclusions – which is why it is important for lane departure warning (LDW) and lane keeping assist (LKA) systems to function properly in any conceivable situation, despite insufficient information and high traveling speeds. Stay safe early on in your development process with virtual test driving!

Already have a hardware prototype with the corresponding function? Our powerful Test Systems have both personalized and turnkey solutions in store for you.

Benefit from test cases created individually for you – our Engineering Services fulfill all your requirements.

Intersection and cross traffic assist

Manage complexity: simulate intersection and cross traffic

Many types of intersections, one solution – in the virtual world you are able to test countless scenarios that would be impossible to reproduce in real-world test drives. The wide variety of intersections and cross traffic situations is enormous and involves extensive infrastructure as well as many other road users.

All this has a significant impact on advanced driver assistance systems and automated driving functions, since the right action must be performed in every situation – all while complying with the prevailing traffic regulations. Whether a junction has two, three or more arms, whether there are roundabouts, crosswalks, intersections with or without traffic lights, traffic signs where lights have broken down, etc. – automated tests with virtual test driving will help you to achieve greater system maturity. Only simulation will allow you to reproduce the most diverse variations in traffic situations (e.g. cyclists, joggers, regional differences, etc.).

How virtual test driving can benefit your tests

Using our Test Manager tool, conduct extensive testing on a wide range of variants based on tests compiled according to your needs with the Test Configurator – easily vary countless different intersections in any way you like.

Use roads and scenarios in the virtual world with ease: Import preferred routes with various intersection types, including traffic lights, from ADAS RP at the push of a button, re-use routes in CarMaker created in OpenSCENARIO and transfer real recorded scenarios to our simulation environment using scenario generation.

Survey your own test track for use in simulation by drawing on our diverse Engineering Services in cooperation with our large network of partners.

Conduct real-world tests in a virtual environment using the vehicle-in-the-loop method, without risking material damage or personal injury and without constructing complex traffic scenario set-ups.

References

ATZ 05/2017: Development of a Personalised Intersection Assistant

1.13 MB / PDF/ 2017 / (c) ATZ/ English

Lighting and visibility improvement assist

For lighting tests throughout the day

Given that improved visibility actively contributes to safety in many situations, lighting systems are extremely important. Extensive tests must therefore be performed to ensure they are continuously optimized. In the simulation environment, you can define and simulate the lighting conditions you require, such as oncoming traffic, street lights, etc., with just a click of the mouse.

This allows you to optimize your lighting system for poor illumination or glare from oncoming vehicles. As a result, you can test around the clock for something that would only be possible during a few hours of the day with real-world test drives. Alongside adaptive bending headlights, the concept of “active lights” has particularly gained acceptance in recent years. This is a lighting function that cleverly adapts to the surroundings and reacts to any existing light sources, oncoming traffic, etc. Virtual test drives give you the opportunity to develop your active lighting functions in a simulated environment.

How virtual test driving can benefit your tests

Reproduce specific daytime, dusk and nighttime lighting conditions in the CarMaker product family, where it is easy to configure different scenarios with the precise lighting conditions you require.

Use tests in virtual scenarios to make accurate statements early on concerning the status of your lighting assist systems, and cover myriad potential cases of application with automated tests.

Use the entire product portfolio to test your camera sensors – from our Physical Data Models (MIL/SIL) through Monitor HIL to our Video Interface Box solution. You can thus put your lighting systems through their paces to see how they perform on object detection, contrast recognition and data fusion with other sensors.

Experience every reaction of the virtual prototype in real-time with causal loop simulation – from the steering wheel angle as an input signal for adaptive lighting through to object recognition for a glare-free high beam.

The primary goal in road traffic is to avoid accidents, which is why technologies should give drivers adequate advanced warning wherever possible and intervene when support is necessary. We can help you to optimize your systems so that they cover every eventuality.

If a collision can no longer be averted, the aim is then to mitigate any damage to the greatest possible extent. In the event of an imminent impact, advanced driver assistance systems engage or interact with one another (e.g. collision warning and emergency brake assist systems). This process is supplemented by protective measures (e.g. belt pretensioners, airbags, pedestrian airbags, etc.) and, should a collision occur, post-crash measures are implemented (e.g. eCall). Simulation will provide you with answers to the following questions at an early stage: Which safety measures are initiated? Does handover between systems run smoothly? And what is the best airbag deployment sequence for the situation?

You can therefore test the following right at the beginning of development:

Test the full causal loop of individual advanced driver assistance systems through to the entire safety unit system in order to investigate aspects such as latencies and failures.

Use our Safety Unit Tester as a stand-alone product, e.g. to optimize the airbag deployment sequence for different crash events. In addition, benefit from using real data as a basis for simulation by embedding unique accident data. We are also happy to assist you in connecting to third-party accident databases (e.g. GIDAS).

In combination with virtual test driving, take advantage of situation-specific recognition as the foundation for testing your active safety units.

Test how the combined active and passive safety (CAPS) systems are tuned to one another in your vehicle and whether they communicate effectively.

Prepare for Euro NCAP tests in the virtual world

Real results from virtual tests

New guidelines, such as those laid down by the organization Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme), are issued on an ongoing basis, particularly in the field of active safety systems. They are intended to provide end users with a reference framework for establishing which vehicles are especially safe and have comprehensive safety features. We help you to take the relevant assessment criteria into account in the virtual world during the development process – to ensure you score full marks in the real world.

Risk-free emergency brake testing

CarMaker has three pre-configured Euro NCAP test runs. We would be delighted to offer you additional support by providing a suitable catalog that covers all the test cases necessary for your system. Virtual test driving enables you to conduct complex tests in countless scenarios at an early stage in the development process, and also allows you to use the same test cases and assessment criteria throughout the different development phases. Play it safe with us!

CarMaker User Training (Karlsruhe) January

28.01.2019- 29.01.2019

Karlsruhe

Are you new to working with our products or applying them in new contexts? Or would you like a detailed overview of the CarMaker functions and to be guided through the first steps of the simulation environment?

Then a training course is just what you need. The CarMaker Service Team offers Training Courses focusing on a range of topics and adapted for varying levels of knowledge.

You can find more information abour our Training Courses and registration for the next workshop here.

CarMaker User Training (Karlsruhe) January

28.01.2019- 29.01.2019

Karlsruhe

Are you new to working with our products or applying them in new contexts? Or would you like a detailed overview of the CarMaker functions and to be guided through the first steps of the simulation environment?

Then a training course is just what you need. The CarMaker Service Team offers Training Courses focusing on a range of topics and adapted for varying levels of knowledge.

You can find more information abour our Training Courses and registration for the next workshop here.